Snowmobiles with … lasers?!? The AP reports (via the Star Tribune): “The defense contractor Textron is buying the snowmobile maker Arctic Cat in a deal valued at about $247 million. … Textron said Wednesday that it will pay $18.50 per Arctic Cat share, a 41 percent premium to its Tuesday closing price. The transaction also includes debt, though no exact figure was provided. … Arctic Cat Inc. will be folded into Textron’s specialized vehicles business, but the brand, as well as its manufacturing, distribution and operational facilities, will be maintained. The Minneapolis company employs around 1,600 people. … Arctic Cat CEO Christopher Metz said the tie up will benefit customers, dealers and employees.”
Frey gets a big, early gift from the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The Star Tribune’s Adam Belz reports: “Minneapolis City Council Member Jacob Frey ended 2015 with $101,000 in campaign funds, about 10 times as much as Mayor Betsy Hodges. Then he was confronted with the question: Can he use that money to run for mayor? … On Tuesday the state’s Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board published a draft advisory opinion that says Frey can change his council campaign committee into a mayoral campaign committee, and use the money he raised as a council member in his bid to unseat Hodges in November.”
Die by executive fiat, live by executive fiat. Reuters reports (via the Forum): “Opponents of two controversial oil pipelines face a long and difficult legal path if the U.S. government approves their construction, experts said after the Trump administration issued orders on Tuesday, Jan. 24, intended to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota Access projects. … U.S. President Donald Trump issued a pair of memoranda to several agencies paving the way to revive Keystone XL, which would bring oil from Canada, and Dakota Access, a nearly completed pipeline which had sought to build under a lake near a Native American reservation in North Dakota. Both projects stalled under former President Barack Obama.”
Class all around. The Pioneer Press’ Rachel Stassen-Berger reports: “After fainting before a statewide audience Monday and sharing a cancer diagnosis Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has received an outpouring of well wishes from the powerful, his political opponents and the people of the state. … The Democratic governor said that former President Bill Clinton called him personally, as did staffers on behalf of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama. Friends, legislators and family also have rallied around the governor, he said. … ‘I got flowers from the Senate Republican Caucus — very nice — and I got flowers from Rep. Mary Franson — very, very nice,’ Dayton said. Franson is a Republican from Alexandria.”
In other news…
Guess which drug he was high on: “Nude burglar sentenced to prison time” [Mankato Free Press]
MN might miss out on some environmental funds: “What the EPA contract freeze means for MN” [Bluestem Prairie]
A good thing to remember AND there’s a cool video showing how they tow a pickup truck out of a lake: “Breezy Point man learns hard lesson: Ice is never safe” [Brainerd Dispatch]
